MuzikMafia: From the Local Nashville Scene to the National Mainstream

Chapter Two: The Birth of the MuzikMafia

the Birth of the MUzikMafia 1. Respect and accept all forms of music, people, and forms of self expression. 2. Never speak ill will of anyone or anything. 3. Be the best at what you do. 4. Do not promote yourself before any other artist. 5. No disrespect towards women. 6. No “hard” drugs. 7. No negativity towards other MuzikMafia musicians. 8. Ask what you can give to the MuzikMafia, not what can you get from it. 9. Do not ask to join the MuzikMafia. These are the rules. Since the MuzikMafia’s first performance on October 23, 2001, many musicians have been asked to join or at least to perform with the MuzikMafia. Chapter Two THE BIRTH oF THE MUzIKMAFIA 30 Those who could not meet these criteria have been asked to leave. The core membership of the MuzikMafia is small—fewer than twenty individuals. Separately, they are artists, each of whom has experienced relative degrees of success and failure in their personal and professional lives. Together, they have contributed to significant change in the commercial music industry in Nashville and beyond. But what is the MuzikMafia and where does it come from? Since June 2004, I have posed these and other questions to MuzikMafia members, tour personnel, the MuzikMafia sub-community known as the Mafia Mizfits, Nashville songwriters, publicists, agents, managers, media representatives, record company executives, MuzikMafia fans, and to myself on hundreds of occasions. The responses are as diverse as the MuzikMafia’s membership . Seldom are two definitions identical, but many evoke connotations of family or a group that promotes individuality, acceptance, and musical diversity. In order to understand the MuzikMafia, we should examine the respective backgrounds of its founding members: Kenny Alphin, Jon Nicholson, Cory Gierman, and John Rich. The MuzikMafia did not simply appear out of thin air in the fall of 2001; its “godfathers,” as they liked to be called, are like-minded individuals whose lives, although diverse in background, contain similar threads of identity-building experiences. I base the following biographical sketches primarily on extended personal interviews with each artist. In order to guarantee the accuracy of information—artists, especially those in the commercial music industry, are not always forthcoming when describing their personal lives—I have corroborated most information with reliable sources such as family members, published biographical information, documents of public record, and other MuzikMafia members. Known by friends and fans as “Big Kenny,” Kenny Alphin is a significant figure in the MuzikMafia. Appropriately named, Kenny stands about 6'3" tall and weighs approximately 190 pounds. In addition to his status as godfather, Kenny contributed much to the development of one of the MuzikMafia’s fundamental principles of artistic expression: Music without Prejudice. Kenny was born November 1, 1963, the youngest of four children to Bill and Mary Alphin. Kenny’s youth consisted of rural life on the family farm located approximately seven miles outside of Culpeper, Virginia. His father, 31 THE BIRTH oF THE MUzIKMAFIA a cattle farmer and insurance salesman, has been actively involved in many aspects of Culpeper life such as the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative board of directors, the Culpeper school board, the Virginia Farm Bureau board, and the Culpeper Baptist Church. Kenny’s mother Mary introduced her son to music when he was approximately two years old through singing lessons in the form of gospel hymns such as “Jesus Loves the Little Children ,” “Give of Your Best to the Master,” and “Amazing Grace” at church. She was the director for the church children’s choir that she also accompanied on piano. Kenny’s parents observed his creative talent at a young age. According to Bill Alphin, “Kenneth was different than the other kids. He didn’t watch much television; he was always doing something creative on his own.” Mary also realized it, and did not enroll her son in kindergarten. Instead, the family invested in an encyclopedia and a craft set. Kenny and his mother spent hiskindergartenyearathome,exploringhiscuriositythroughdailyreading, crafts, drawing, and other outlets for creative expression. Mary remembers one Sunday morning when she noticed that Kenny had remained behind as the family was in the car preparing to leave for church. Upon entering the house to retrieve her son, Mary found Kenny on the floor reproducing a picture that an artist had been painting on a television program earlier that morning. Mary described her son to me as having “more God-given talent than any...